6 Top Dividend-Paying Stocks, Including Apple, JPMorgan, ExxonMobil

Scott Davis, manager of the Columbia Dividend Income fund, beats the index when the market tanks.

Six years into the bull market, Columbia Dividend Income senior manager Scott Davis is still finding values in the stock market. The veteran investor, who’s been with the fund since its 1998 inception, sees the key to finding quality dividend-paying stocks as identifying companies that have strong cash returns that will allow them to increase their dividends over time.

Dividend Income (ticker: LBSAX) is coming off a solid 2014, when it ranked among the top 20% of large-cap value funds. It lagged the Standard & Poor’s...